The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-07-16

in the kitchen several hours every day,
and to rack his brains in trying to find
out how to get a dollars worth of the
necessaries of life with fifty cents ?
And how can he buy books when he has
not money enough to buy bread Any
congregation that starves its minister
starves itself.
But there is an opposite extreme. AT
Y. they have very popular minister.
They are so proud of him that they
think nothing too good for him. They
pamper him as Ben Bird pampers his,
fancy chickens. And the result is thatl
the eloquent doctor has to make fire.
quent journeys and voyages for his
health. He is about on vacations nearly
half of the year, and when he is at home
he has to go to so many dinners and sup
pers that he has no time to look after
the poor of his flock or to try to win
men to Christ. He is a fascinating
preacher, and the people know that half
dozen rich churches are ready to call
him; so they humor him in everything
and keep increasing his salary for fear
of losing him. Now, it is evident to all
who are not under the spell of this
mans peculiar magnetism that he is
not doing the real work of gospel min
lister. He is filling large house Of
worship with enthusiastic hearers. But
that is all that he is doing. His church
is not growing in grace, and there are
few conversions. If ne was not so highly
fed he might be eminently useful. But
his admirers have spoiled him. He is
lecturer on religious topics at SIS, 900
year and not an earnest preacher Of the
Word, commencing himself to every
mans conscience in the sight of God.
But there is another kind of feeding in
which we ought to find the golden mean
if we can. The people of x. never tell
their minister that he has preached a
good sermon-that they have enjoyed
it and that it has edited them. If he
makes a mistake of any kind, or is guilty
of an omission, they tell him promptly
and with emphasis. But not word of
praise or of grateful appreciation does
he hear from January l to December
80. Can a man work heartily for a
people who are so heartless and unde-
monstrative +? Ministers of the gospel
are men. The treasure is in earthen
vessels, and people who want man to
serve them with enthusiasm must be
enthusiastic. Yet this very thing may
be overdone. At Y. the people gather
around the doctor at the close of every
service, saying, "That was splendid
DISCOURSE" "Those illustrations were
grand" "That poetry you quoted was
beautiful; where did you find it ?" etc.
This adulation is so much a matter of
course that the preacher would feel
himself insulted if he did not receive
it. But the tendency is to make him
vain, and worse still, to tempt him to
labor for popularity rather than for
Christ.
do wish that some churches l know
had sense enough to tell their ministers
how much they love them, and wish
that other churches that know would
quit telling their ministers how much
they admire them. Expressions of APP
probation that come from the heart,
and that dwell more upon the good re-
ceived than upon the admiration ex-
cited, will not hurt true minister, but
will stimulate and encourage him. But
tickling a minister's vanity with the
straws of compliments is about the
meanest thing that Christian people
can do. And the man who enjoys
and expects it had better quit preach
ing, for the days of his usefulness are
ended.-Obadiah Oldschool, IN Interior.